/*
 *   The contents of this file are subject to the Mozilla Public License
 *   Version 1.1 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
 *   compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *   http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/
 *
 *   Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
 *   basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
 *   License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
 *   under the License.
 *
 *   The Original Code is Matra - the DTD Parser.
 *
 *   The Initial Developer of the Original Code is Conrad S Roche.
 *   Portions created by Conrad S Roche are Copyright (C) Conrad 
 *   S Roche. All Rights Reserved.
 *
 *   Alternatively, the contents of this file may be used under the terms
 *   of the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Version 2 or any later version
 *   (the  "[GPL] License"), in which case the
 *   provisions of GPL License are applicable instead of those
 *   above.  If you wish to allow use of your version of this file only
 *   under the terms of the GPL License and not to allow others to use
 *   your version of this file under the MPL, indicate your decision by
 *   deleting  the provisions above and replace  them with the notice and
 *   other provisions required by the GPL License.  If you do not delete
 *   the provisions above, a recipient may use your version of this file
 *   under either the MPL or the GPL License."
 *
 *   [NOTE: The text of this Exhibit A may differ slightly from the text of
 *   the notices in the Source Code files of the Original Code. You should
 *   use the text of this Exhibit A rather than the text found in the
 *   Original Code Source Code for Your Modifications.]
 *
 * Created: Conrad S Roche <derupe at users.sourceforge.net>,  23-Sep-2003
 */
package com.conradroche.dtd.decl.elem;

import java.util.Collection;

/**
 * The ContentModel specifies a ContentSpec
 * where the element contains only child elements. 
 * 
 * This is represented by a collection of 
 * ContentParticle(s), the type - either a
 * choice or sequence and the cardinality of
 * the entire group.
 * <p/>
 * From XML Specifications <br/> 
 * [Section 3.2.1 Element Content] -
 * <br/>
 * [Definition: An element type has <b>element content</b> 
 * when elements of that type must contain only child 
 * elements (no character data), optionally separated 
 * by white space (characters matching the nonterminal 
 * S).][Definition: In this case, the constraint includes 
 * a <b>content model</b>, a simple grammar governing the 
 * allowed types of the child elements and the order in 
 * which they are allowed to appear.] 
 *
 * @author Conrad Roche
 */
public interface ContentModel extends ContentSpec {

	/**
	 * Sets the element content for this content model.
	 * 
	 * @param CPs The collection of <code>ContentParticle</code>(s) that constitute
	 * 			the element content. It is an error if this parameter is null.
	 * @param type The type of the mix of elements - it can have one of two values
	 * 			CP_TYPE_CHOICE or CP_TYPE_SEQUENCE. If there is only one ContentParticle
	 * 			in this content model, then the type should be CP_TYPE_SEQUENCE.
	 * @param cardinality The cardinality of this content model. The cardinality 
	 * 				can have one of four values - 
	 * 				CARDINALITY_OPTIONAL ('?'), CARDINALITY_MULTIPLE ('+') or
	 * 				CARDINALITY_OPTIONAL_MULTIPLE ('*') or CARDINALITY_ONCE.
	 */
	public void setElementContent(Collection CPs, short type, short cardinality);
}
